A plasma processing system includes a chamber, a gas supply unit, a gas exhaust unit, a separating unit, a boost unit and an accumulation unit. The chamber is configured to process a target substrate by plasma of a gaseous mixture of a rare gas and a processing gas. The gas supply unit is configured to supply the rare gas and the processing gas into the chamber. The gas exhaust unit is configured to exhaust a gas containing the rare gas from the chamber. The separating unit is configured to separate the rare gas from the gas exhausted by the gas exhaust unit. The boost unit is configured to boost the rare gas separated by the separating unit. The accumulation unit is configured to accumulate the rare gas boosted by the boost unit and supply the accumulated first rare gas to the gas supply unit.

Exemplary etching methods may include flowing an oxygen-containing precursor into a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include contacting a substrate housed in the processing region with the oxygen-containing precursor. The substrate may include an exposed region of a transition metal nitride and an exposed region of a metal. The contacting may form an oxidized portion of the transition metal nitride and an oxidized portion of the metal. The methods may include forming a plasma of a fluorine-containing precursor and a hydrogen-containing precursor to produce fluorine-containing plasma effluents. The methods may include removing the oxidized portion of the transition metal nitride to expose a non-oxidized portion of the transition metal nitride. The methods may include forming a plasma of a chlorine-containing precursor to produce chlorine-containing plasma effluents. The methods may include removing the non-oxidized portion of the transition metal nitride.

An etching apparatus includes: a chamber; a substrate support disposed in the chamber; one or more heaters disposed in the substrate support; a gas supply; a plasma generator; a controller configured to perform an etching process comprising a plurality of cycles; and a heater controller. Each cycle includes: controlling the gas supply to supply a precursor into the chamber, thereby forming a precursor layer on a substrate supported by the substrate support, the substrate including a film and a mask; and controlling the gas supply and the plasma generator to supply a process gas into the chamber and generate a plasma from the process gas in the chamber, thereby etching the film through the mask.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a system and, more specifically, a substrate processing system. The substrate processing system includes one or more cooling systems. The cooling systems are configured to lower and/or control the temperature of a body of the substrate processing system. The cooling systems include features to cool the body disposed in the substrate processing system using gas and/or liquid cooling systems. The cooling systems disclosed herein can be used when the body is disposed at any height.

Sealing various machined component parts used in plasma etching chambers using an Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) coating. By sealing the component parts with the ALD layer, surface erosion/etch caused by repeated exposure to plasma during workpiece fabrication is eliminated or significantly mitigated. As a result, unwanted particle generation, caused by erosion, is eliminated or significantly reduced, preventing contamination within the plasma etching chamber.

Methods and systems for processing a bevel edge of a wafer in a bevel plasma chamber. The method includes receiving a pulsed mode setting for a RF generator of the bevel plasma chamber. The method includes identifying a duty cycle for the pulsed mode, the duty cycle defining an ON time and an OFF time during each cycle of power delivered by the generator. The method includes calculating or accessing a compensation factor to an input RF power setting of the generator. The compensation factor is configured to add an incremental amount of power to the input power setting to account for a loss in power attributed to the duty cycle to be run in the pulsed mode. The method is configured to run the generator in the pulse mode with the duty cycle and the pulsing frequency. The generator is configured to generate the input power in pulsing mode that includes incremental amount of power to achieve an effective power in the bevel plasma chamber to achieve a target bevel processing throughput, while reducing charge build-up that causes arcing damage.

A process of detecting a thickness of a film layer to be processed or a depth of etching by using a result of detection of a signal indicating intensity of interference light having a plurality of wavelengths formed at a plurality of time instants from when plasma is formed to when the etching is completed. A start time instant is detected by using an amount of change in the intensity of the interference light. Then, a remaining film thickness or the etching amount at an arbitrary time instant is detected from a result of comparing actual data indicating the intensity of the interference light at the arbitrary time instant during the processing after the start time instant with a plurality of pieces of data for detection of the intensity of the interference light obtained in advance and associated with values of a the film thicknesses or the depths of etching.

According to one aspect of the technique of the present disclosure, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a process vessel in which a substrate is processed; an outer vessel configured to cover an outer circumference of the process vessel; a gas flow path provided between the outer vessel and the outer circumference of the process vessel; an exhaust path in communication with the gas flow path; an adjusting valve configured to be capable of adjusting a conductance of the exhaust path; a first exhaust apparatus provided on the exhaust path downstream of the adjusting valve; a pressure sensor configured to measure an inner pressure of the outer vessel; and a controller configured to be capable of adjusting an exhaust volume flow rate of the first exhaust apparatus by controlling the first exhaust apparatus based on a pressure measured by the pressure sensor.

A grounding cap module includes a main body, a frame portion, and a cap portion. The main body includes a first opening penetrating the main body and a grounding portion disposed on a periphery of the main body and configured to be electrically grounded. The frame portion is disposed on the main body and includes a second opening aligned with the first opening. The cap portion is disposed on the frame portion and covers the second opening, wherein the first opening, the second opening and the cap portion define a receiving cavity. A gas injection device and an etching apparatus using the same are also provided.

A technique increases verticality in etching. An etching method is a method for etching a target film with a plasma processing apparatus including a chamber and a substrate support located in the chamber to support a substrate, the substrate support holding a substrate that includes the target film, the target film including a patterned mask film having at least one opening. The etching method includes supplying a process gas containing an HF gas into the chamber, and etching the target film by: generating plasma from the process gas in the chamber with radio-frequency power having a first frequency, and applying a pulsed voltage periodically to the substrate support at a second frequency lower than the first frequency.